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- Title
CARDIOVASCULAR RISK FACTORS AND HEARING LOSS: A COHORT STUDY (HUNT).
- Authors
Engdahl, Bo; Aarhus, Lisa; Lie, Arve; Tambs, Kristian
- Abstract
Sufficient circulation is essential for the hearing function. While hearing loss has been associated with cardiovascular risk factors, prospective data are scarce and the potential of prevention is disputed. The purpose of the present paper was to examine the association between prospectively assessed cardiovascular risk factors and hearing loss in a population-based cohort study of 31,547 subjects. The subjects underwent pure-tone audiometry and had self-reported or measured cardiovascular risk factors assessed both 11 years before and simultaneously with the audiometric assessment. Hearing was assessed by pure-tone averages at low (0.25-0.5 kHz), middle (1-2 kHz), and high (3-8 kHz) frequencies. Cardiovascular risk factors were smoking, alcohol use, physical inactivity, waist circumference, body mass index, resting heart rate, blood pressure, triglycerides, serum cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and diabetes. After adjustment for age, sex, level of education, income, recurrent ear infections, and noise exposure, risk factors associated with poorer hearing sensitivity were smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity, resting heart rate and waist circumference. Smoking was only associated with hearing loss at high frequencies. The effects were very small, explaining only 0.2-0.4% of the variance in addition to the component explained by age and the other cofactors. This cohort study indicates that, although many cardiovascular risk factors are associated with hearing loss, the effects are small and of doubtful clinical relevance.
- Subjects
CARDIOVASCULAR diseases risk factors; HEARING disorder diagnosis; COHORT analysis; LONGITUDINAL method; DEAFNESS prevention; POPULATION biology
- Publication
Journal of International Advanced Otology, 2015, Vol 11, p39
- ISSN
1308-7649
- Publication type
Article